


Glinting Darkly

by rorywritesstuff



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Frozen (2013)
Genre: Angst, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Magic, Self-Hatred, Villain origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 16:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10030886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rorywritesstuff/pseuds/rorywritesstuff
Summary: What happened to Hans to make him the way he is.





	

In summer, the hike would have been perfectly pleasant. The trees would have been green and lush, providing shade and making the air smell sweet, he could have picked fruit as he went and listened to birdsong, and when he’d finally reached the peak, the view would have been unparalleled.  
It was not so in winter, but Hans kept walking.  
After several hours, he finally made it to the summit and the small cave therein. Breathing heavily, he shucked his heavy pack from his shoulders and slumped against a wall of rock. It had been dark for half the day, and all he could see when he looked out was bleak whiteness. Still, he had made it.  
He noticed a small rock edging conspicuously closer to his foot. He leant down and to it and said, “Hello, little one. What’s your name?”  
The rock quivered and then unfurled to reveal a small troll, “Inga.”  
“Well, Inga, would you please be so kind as to fetch your leader? I need to speak to her.”  
Inga nodded and then crouched back into her round stone form and rolled off into the cave. Hans breathed a sigh of relief and then sat down on the ground, ignoring how dirty it was. He was exhausted, but his mind was awake; he’d been thinking about this meeting for such a long time, he’d rehearsed exactly what he would say, so that the words were almost pushing past his lips already, just waiting to be spoken.  
His family didn’t know he was there; his brothers probably didn’t care, though. If things went as he hoped, they would never need to know, either: he could get the magic he needed and return to the castle without explanation. No one had seen him come, and no one would see him return. It would be the perfect crime.  
He heard a rustling further up the cave and stood, straightening his posture. He needed to make an excellent first impression.  
“Hello, hello, hello,” rang the voice of the Grand Troll, warm and fulsome. Unlike others, she preferred to walk everywhere. It made her slow, and her gait was ungainly at best, but it gave her a gravitas the other trolls couldn’t match.  
“Hello, your excellency,” Hans replied, bowing low, “My name is Tomas.”  
“I know who you are really,” the Grand Troll replied, a large smile on face, “you can no more hide your true name from a troll than I can hide my crystals from the miners. Sit down, young price, life has made you weary.”  
Hans nodded and sat down. He was surprised at the Troll’s level of finesse with her soothsaying; this boded well. He held his breath, looked down at his fingers and then back up at the troll, “do you know why I’m here?”  
“I think it would do you good to say it.”  
Hans swallowed hard and then began his practiced speech. After the words tripped out so easily in his imagination, and seemed so eager to be spoken on the journey up the mountain, he now found that they had congealed in his throat. He could not speak.  
“Take your time,” the Grand Troll said soothingly, “you must never be afraid to speak your mind.”  
Hans took a deep breath and heard himself say, “I’m not like my brothers; I’m not normal. I have all these feelings; feelings for other men. Feelings that I should feel for women. But I don’t. I never have. I- I can’t.” The Grand Troll nodded, and Hans found more words cascading forth, “when I see other men without…when I see them undressed, when we go swimming, I can hardly take my eyes off them. They’re captivating. And when my mother tells me to dance with a girl, I feel nothing. People tell me they’re beautiful, but I don’t see it. I can only picture myself dancing with another man.” Some great coil that had been restricting around Hans’ chest for longer than he could remember seemed to loosen slightly. An itch on the back of his neck which he’d felt since first he’d observed the other boys in his class softened just a little.  
The Grand Troll put her stony hand on his shoulder, “You’re very brave to tell me this.”  
“Can you cure me?”  
“It isn’t something to be cured-”  
“Please. It’s illegal in my kingdom. If my parents knew what was happening in my head- how I was staring at the other men; I’m terrified of what they’ll do, what they’ll think of me.”  
“Their fear should not be your concern. Your life will be filled with love.”  
“No, I don’t want these feelings. Not like this. Can’t you change them? Can’t you make me normal?”  
The Grand Troll waited a long time before answering simply, “I cannot change the object of your affections.”  
“Please. I beg of you. Whenever I find my eyes wandering I’m scared of where they could land! I don’t want to fear my own heart. I just want to find someone to love and to be with them.”  
“You will-”  
“Not like this. I can’t stand these feelings, they make me sick. Is there nothing you can do?” The troll’s expression faltered, for just a second. Hans’ heart leapt. “There is. Oh, please tell me what it is.”  
“It’s too horrible.”  
“Not for me. I’m desperate.”  
The Grand Troll looked around, then leant forward and whispered, “there was a mirror, a cruel trick left behind by a greater power, that did not reflect what was. Instead, the mirror amplified the ugliness and darkness in the world. It was smashed, and the pieces scattered to the winds, but sometimes, shards of that mirror would catch in people’s eyes. Those people no longer felt love; all fondness was replaced with indifference and contempt.”  
“That’s not what I want; I just want these feelings removed. Aren’t there people who don’t seek romance?”  
“There are, but you are not one of them. I can’t alter your heart’s desires, only distort them. It is the only way.”  
Hans looked at the ground, letting the snatched information he had heard about his condition swirl through his mind; the muttered insults and insinuations; the words his brothers had proudly declared, dripping with hatred; the disgust on his mother’s face when she’d heard of two men who’d been caught in the woods, and the punishments his father had laid out for them. He couldn’t become that.  
He wouldn’t.  
“Where can I find a piece of this mirror?” Hans asked.  
Sadly, the Grand Troll extended her hand; something dark glinted there.

A short time later, Hans climbed down the mountain, feeling much better. On his way back to the castle, he passed young farmhand who had caught his eye that morning; a broad man, with thicky, golden locks of hair. In the early sunlight, he had seemed impossibly angelic and beguiling. Hans had had to tear himself away from staring at the young man.  
Now, all he saw was the dirt covering much of the man’s skin. It was repulsive. The man turned to wave at the prince and he turned away in disgust.  
The mirror had worked; he was no longer restricted by love.

**Author's Note:**

> This is very different from what I normally write. I don't know if this story will be controversial because of its subject matter but I want to pre-empt any accusations: I am not homophobic, this story is not about homosexuality leading to evil, it's about lack of acceptance leading to hatred. I also hope I have successfully differentiated what happens to Hans from asexuality- I don't want to contribute to asexual erasure, or demonise people who are asexual or aromantic.


End file.
